Essays are solicited for Vol. 41, 2010, The Politics of Childhood.
Childhood constitutes a territory where inescapable social issues are expressed. Whether these are the only-child politics in China, or the politics aimed at combating poverty and violence, the child is the object of an unprecedented judicial framework since the end of the twentieth century. In Canada, in 1989, the House of Commons resolved to eliminate child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. In spite of this resolution, child poverty each day gains ground. One in six children is poor in Canada today. In Aboriginal communities, one child in four lives in poverty, despite numerous initiatives on the part of international organizations, such as the World Summit for Children, held by UNICEF in 1990, or the UN convention on the rights of children–an international treaty ratified by the Canadian government in 1991–which determines the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights on children, and which stipulates that children have the right to decent life conditions. How to fight against child poverty? What possible measures could suppress this phenomenon? Likewise, the stakes with regard to education are unprecedented in a context where a knowledge economy is at the forefront of economic development. Whether it concerns existent educational programs or those that are hoped for, what are the stakes at the moment? And where are we regarding the creation of governmental programs aimed at taking charge of early childhood, a demand that has been, and remains still, on the agenda of several social movements and political parties in Canada? A number of countries have equipped themselves with family-based policies at increasing birth rates and fertility rates. What is at stake in these pronatalist policies? How to evaluate their impact and effect? Finally, what readings are found on the theme of childhood in the fields of literature, the arts, and cinema?
Kindly submit your paper (20-30 pages), along with an abstract of 100 words or less, by March 1, 2009 to:
The International Journal of Canadian Studies
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Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6K7
Canada
Tel.: (613) 789-7834
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Email: guy.leclair@iccs-ciec.ca